Two Syllable Names for Girls

Sophisticated French choice. Or toxic petrochemical.

Candice is the spelling of this ancient name used by actress Candice Bergen. Candice is a form of Candace, an ancient title of a dynasty of Ethiopian queens mentioned in the New Testament.

Tora is the female version of Tor or Thor, the name of the Norse god of thunder. Actress Jeanne Tripplehorn chose it for her daughter.

Smart and preppy, but with plenty of heart, Hartley is a surname style name that could work as an alternative to the popular Harley, Harlowe, Harper, and Hadley. Quietly used for boys throughout the 20th century, Hartley took off for girls in 2010 after both Sugar Ray singer Mark McGrath and baseball player Matt Cain used the name for their daughters.

Nickname sometimes heard on its own, sort of an updated Sally and playmate of Hallie.

The unusual and intriguing Tullia has been used since Roman times and may appeal to parents who like Tallulah, Julia, and Lillia but want something that's very rarely heard.

Iyla, now a Top 1000 girls' name in the US, resembles many other popular names, from the Top 100 Isla to the Turkish Ayla, with which it shares a moonlit meaning.

Petal is the soft and sweet-smelling name of a character in the novel and film, The Shipping News. With the rise of such flower names as Poppy and Posy, we believe Petal — down-to-earth yet romantic — has its own appealingly distinctive style.

This delightful, lovable Persian name is typically reserved as a nickname for Niloufar. It rhymes with Lilou, the utterly charming French nickname.

Five girls were given the name Perrine last year. More modern-sounding are Perrin, Perry, or even Petra.

A character name in George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, featured in the GOT prequel House of the Dragon. A modern spin on Bella, so you might consider the meaning to be beauty or beautiful.

This attractive multicultural name is found in India and Finland, where it is also a word meaning "frost."

Yet another creative character name from Toni Morrison, Denver was a daughter of Sethe's in the novel Beloved. Today Denver is most familiar as the name of the largest city in Colorado, used almost equally for girls and boys.

Originally a Dutch surname, imported by the early Dutch colonists, has been all but overpowered by the phonetic spellings in the US -- Skyler for boys and Skylar for girls. With the surnames-as-first-names trend, however, and the popularity of the Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical Hamilton, which features the Schuyler sisters, perhaps Schuyler might receive some more interest in the coming years.

Fashion designer surname that could make a dynamic first.

Krishna, in Hindu tradition, was the human incarnation of the god Vishnu, a heroic figure representing love and joy--the familiar "Hare Krishna" is a chant to this deity.

Tesla, the surname of Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla that has more recently been used as the brand name for an electric car, is gaining some use as a first name for girls. Exactly 100 girls were named Tesla in the U.S. last year. You might think of the name as a Tessa/Isla hybrid, though with Tesla the s is not silent. There was also a rock band named Tesla.

Fine in France, but here it means vegetables sliced into thin strips.

Shayla first gained traction in the US during the 1970s, finally reaching its peak of Number 268 in 1999. Since then, this name has been on the decline, dropping to Number 988 in 2016, a nearly 200 spot drop from the prior year. As a variant of Sheila, its popularity was most likely aided by the popularity of Kayla.